Andrew Sparrow 

EU27 united in demanding ‘more progress’ on border in Brexit talks, says Irish foreign minister – Politics live

Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen
  
  

A Border Communities Against Brexit billboard close to the Letterkenny - Strabane border in the Irish Republic.
A Border Communities Against Brexit billboard close to the Letterkenny - Strabane border in the Irish Republic. Photograph: Paul Mcerlane/The Guardian

Afternoon summary

  • The Brexit department has handed over to the Commons Brexit committee internal government reports about the impact of Brexit on different sectors of the economy as commanded by a Commons vote. (See 4.33pm and 5.30pm.) But the information does not consist of the 58 separate sectoral impact assessments MPs were expecting and the Labour MP Seema Malhotra, who sits on the committee, said David Davis, the Brexit secretary, would face further “embarrassment and defeat” in the Commons if it turned out that the documents had been edited in an effort to keep MPs in the dark. She said:

If it is true that the reports they are handing over have already been redacted or edited, this would be against the spirit and the letter of parliament’s motion.It would show once again how desperate ministers are to hide the facts about Brexit from parliament and the public.

The select committee must be given the analyses which were completed and nothing less. We cannot and should not be short-changed. The public and parliament must no longer be kept in the dark.

A spokesman for the Brexit department said it had done what parliament requested. He said:

We have always been clear that our analysis does not exist in the form parliament requested. We have taken time to bring together the analysis we do have in a way that meets parliament’s specific ask. Our overall programme of work is comprehensive, thorough and is continuously updated. This sectoral analysis is simply one part of it.

  • Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign minister, has said that the EU27 are united behind Ireland in wanting “more progress” on the border issue in the Brexit talks before being willing to open negotiations on a future UK-EU trade relationship. (See 11.56am.)
  • Britain and Turkey have begun work on a post-Brexit free trade agreement, the Turkish prime minister has disclosed. Following talks in Downing Street with Theresa May, Binali Yildirim said the two countries had set up a joint working group which met for the first time earlier this month. As the Press Association reports, he said that while a deal could not be finalised until the UK had actually withdrawn from the EU, the preparations would take place “in parallel” with the Brexit negotiations. He said:

These will take place simultaneously. It is not like we will first wait for the UK to finish Brexit and then see what happens. That is not the kind of approach we have in mind. That would be wrong. Work has already started on it and it has to start.

This way we will make sure that, in a gradual manner, we will be paving the way into a free trade agreement and we need to finish the necessary preparations before that time.

Both parties are aware of the significance of this joint working group and we have been taking the necessary steps with this aim in mind.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

Sky’s Faisal Islam has more on the government Brexit impact reports sent to the Commons Brexit committee.

Turning back to Michel Barnier (see 1.43pm) for a moment, the Express’s Nick Gutteridge has an interesting Twitter thread on his speech. It starts here.

Budget fails to boost Tory fortunes, Guardian/ICM poll suggests

The latest Guardian/ICM polling is out - and it has mixed messages for the government.

  • The budget has not boosted the Conservatives’ lead over Labour on the economy. Theresa May and Philip Hammond are still comfortably ahead of Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell on this measure, but their lead is smaller now, after the budget, than it was last month.

Respondents were asked, irrespective of which party they support, which team they thought was best able to manage the economy properly. The results were:

Theresa May and Philip Hammond: 36% (down 3 from Guardian/ICM one month ago)

Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell: 28% (up 2)

Neither: 26% (up 3)

Conservative lead: 8 points (down 5)

We also asked the “Brexit bill” that the UK is due to pay to the EU when it leaves. We first asked about this in April, when some people were suggesting the amount the UK ends up paying could be as low as £3bn. Now it is has been reported that Theresa May is in principle willing to pay up to £40bn, although ministers seem to want to make that conditional on getting a good response from the EU on trade.

To allow a meaningful comparison, we phrased the question on this topic in exactly the same way we did in August. People were asked if paying an “exit fee” of up to £10bn/£20bn/£30bn/£40bn, “as a one-off or in instalments, as the UK’s contribution to spending commitments made by the EU when the UK was a member”, was acceptable or not acceptable. Here are the results:

£10bn

Acceptable: 50% (up 9 from Guardian/ICM in August)

Not acceptable: 32% (down 8)

£20bn

Acceptable: 28% (up 10)

Not acceptable: 54% (down 11)

£30bn

Acceptable: 14% (up 3)

Not acceptable: 67% (down 5)

£40bn

Acceptable: 11% (up 2)

Not acceptable: 71% (down 4)

  • Support for paying a minimal “Brexit bill” to the EU when the UK leaves has gone up over the last three months. In August only 41% thought paying £10bn was acceptable. That has now risen to 50%, and even support for much larger payments has risen slightly.
  • But voters are strongly opposed to paying a “Brexit bill” on the scale planned by ministers. Only 11% of respondents said a £40bn payment would be acceptable, even though it has been widely reported in recent days that this is what ministers think will be necessary. Some 71% of respondents said paying that amount would be unacceptable.

Finally, here are the ICM state-of-the-party polling figures.

  • The budget has failed to boost the Conservatives’ popularity, the poll suggests. It has the Conservatives and Labour both on 41%, exactly where they were two weeks ago.

Labour: 41% (no change from Guardian/ICM two weeks ago)

Conservatives: 41% (no change)

Lib Dems: 7% (no change)

Ukip: 5% (up 1)

Greens: 3% (up 1)

I will post a link to the tables here, as soon as they go up on the ICM website.

ICM Unlimited interviewed a representative online sample of 2,029 adults aged 18+ on 24 to 26 November 2017. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.

Updated

My colleague Anushka Asthana has more on the Brexit impact assessment reports that have been handed over to the Commons Brexit committee for publication.

This is not what many MPs were expecting when the Commons voted for this information to be released. If Hilary Benn, the committee chairman, and his colleagues feel that the government has not complied with parliament’s wishes, they could push for a vote on a motion accusing the government of contempt of parliament. But that would be seen as a very provocative step, only justified if the government is clearly failing to honour its obligations. It would also trigger a vote in the Commons that would almost inevitably see MPs splitting along party lines, which is normally the last thing committee chairmen want, because they prefer to proceed by consensus.

Here is Sky’s defence correspondent, Alistair Bunkall, on Gavin Williamson’s debut at the despatch box as defence secretary.

And here is HuffPost’s Paul Waugh on Williamson’s performance.

Williamson warned he faces 'very substantial rebellion' if he tries to armed forces

During defence questions the Conservative MP James Gray told Gavin Williamson, the new defence secretary, that he would face a “very substantial rebellion” if he tried to cut the size of the armed forces. Gray said:

His background ideally suits him to fighting the corner in the review that’s coming along. So will he please speak to the prime minister and remind her that her primary duty is the defence of the realm?

Will he speak to the national security adviser, and indeed the secretary of state at the Cabinet Office, to remind them that they must not use [the national security capability] review as some kind of camouflage to cut our services? Will he speak to the chancellor of the exchequer to make sure he digs deep in his pockets to produce the money we need? And above all, will he speak to the chief whip to remind him if he does not do so he’s going to be facing a very substantial rebellion?

Williamson replied:

I can assure him I will speak to every single one of those people that he has outlined. As he rightly points out, the defence of our nation is the first and primary responsibility of every government - that is one I take exceptionally seriously.

He was also challenged on this topic by his Labour shadow, Nia Griffith, who said it was “surreal” to hear last week that Williamson had not made any submissions to the chancellor on defence spending ahead of the budget.

Williamson replied:

What we have to do is to ensure that we understand what the needs are for our defence, our armed forces, going forward. She may wish to rush into things and actually just demand and demand and demand. What I want to do is to make sure that we have the arguments ready, understand the threats that this country faces and make sure that we deliver for our armed forces. That is what the focus is going to be.

I have many conversations with the chancellor and I’m looking forward to many, many more going forward.

Here is the full quote from Gavin Williamson, the new defence secretary, when he told MPs that he regarded the 2% of GDP defence spending target as a minimum, not a maximum.

Julian Lewis, the Conservative chair of the Commons defence committee, asked:

When he does speak to the chancellor, will he take the opportunity of reminding him that in the cold war years we spent 5% of GDP on defence. Now, we spend barely 2% of GEDP on defence, and perhaps a target nearer to 3% of GDP on defence might prevent our armed forces being further hollowed out?

Williamson replied:

I’ve always seen 2% as a base as against a ceiling, and I will certainly be taking on board his thoughts and comments going forward.

Number 10 confirmed this morning that the government would hand over to the Commons Brexit committee its Brexit impact assessments by tomorrow, in accordance with the deadline set after the parliamentary vote. (See 12.45pm.) The committee does not yet know what form the impact assessments will arrive in, but the expectation is that they will be unredacted and then the chair, Hilary Benn, will discuss with David Davis any concerns about publication. They then believe it will be for the committee to decide what is published. The government has changed its position on the existence of the papers, although Davis has said - a number of times - that the reports have been completed. There could well be some toing and froing over publication once they have been received.

Williamson says he sees 2% GDP defence spending target as minimum, not maximum

Gavin Williamson has started taking questions in the Commons for the first time as defence secretary. In his short time at the MoD he already seems to have gone a bit native. As the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn reports, in his first answers he adopted a hawkish tone on defence spending.

Peter Hain, the Labour former Northern Ireland secretary (and a firm remainer), has criticised his Brexiter colleague Kate Hoey for saying Ireland should pay if there has to be a hard border with Northern Ireland after Brexit. (See 10.29am.) In a statement issued by Open Britain, which is campaigning for a soft Brexit, he said:

With her suggestion that Ireland will have to pay for any border, Kate Hoey seems to have been taking diplomacy lessons from Donald Trump.

It really is astonishing how much damage Brexit is already doing to our country’s reputation. Even our closest friends, Ireland, are now becoming the target of unhinged attacks from hard Brexit cheerleaders.

The cold, hard reality is very clear: outside of the customs union and the single market, there will have to be a hard border of some kind on the island of Ireland.

The only way to prevent a return to the borders of the past is to keep both Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK in the single market and the customs union on a permanent basis.

Caroline Dinenage, the work and pensions minister, has released a written ministerial statement today confirming benefit and pension rates for 2018/19. The full rates for every benefit are in this document (pdf). Pensions are going up in line with inflation, at 3%, but she confirms that “the majority of working-age benefits have been frozen at their 2015/16 levels for four years under the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016”.

Business, unions and opposition react to industrial strategy white paper

The 255-page industrial strategy white paper is out. You can read it here (pdf).

As the Press Association reports, business groups welcomed the government’s industrial strategy, but unions and opposition parties have attacked it - with one official branding it a “joke.”

The TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said:

Ministers have failed to explain how workers will be given a say in the new industrial strategy. They are missing a trick if they don’t listen to the factory floor.

The GMB leader Tim Roache said:

To suggest what we need are ‘new business models’ in care as part of an industrial strategy is an unfunny joke from a government that just doesn’t get it.

Stephen Martin, director general of the Institute of Directors, said:

Business leaders will welcome the Government’s grand ambition to turn around the UK’s woeful performance productivity. The measures in today’s industrial strategy could be the beginning of a bold, new approach to the economy - but only if what has been announced today is followed through, not just in this parliament, but over many parliaments to come.

Rebecca Long-Bailey, shadow business secretary, said:

This is a white paper made up of re-announced policies and old spending commitments, showing once again that this is a government short on details and new ideas. Nothing in the white paper will help give businesses the certainty or incentives they need to invest in the face of the government’s catastrophic handling of Brexit.

What detail there is concentrates on a few elite industries in which Britain already has an advantage, and will do nothing to help the millions of people who work in low productivity and low wage sectors such as retail, hospitality and social care.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said:

The combination of falling apprenticeship starts and restricted access to skilled labour after Brexit will cripple the industrial strategy.

What is being announced today is not much more than a reinvention of the wheel. We’ve had an industrial strategy already for five years. But there is a big cloud hanging over it now caused by the major uncertainties around Brexit.

Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the CBI, said:

Nine in 10 firms see a modern Industrial Strategy as vital to improving living standards in the face of Brexit uncertainty and a sombre economic outlook.

This announcement shows the government has its eye firmly on the horizon, not just the next few yards. We welcome the recognition that success will require urgent action in partnership with business. This is the route to raising living standards in every corner of the country.

Barnier says 'moment of truth' is approaching in Brexit talks

Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, has said the “moment of truth” is approaching in the Brexit talks. Speaking at an EU summit in Tallinn, Estonia, Barnier said:

I do hope in the next few days we will come up with an agreement on principles, and a real agreement. We need to have real, sufficient progress in the three key areas where the UK’s decision has created a lot of uncertainty and fear even ...

The moment of truth is approaching, we have a council under the Estonian presidency on December 14 and 15, and I really hope that will be the point where we will see real, sufficient progress on the conditions of our separation. And that will allow me to recommend the opening up of the next two phases of negotiations, first of all on the transition period and then on the future relationship.

Corbyn says lowest paid would be £3,000 a year better off under Labour than under Tories by 2020

In his speech at the Scottish Labour event this morning with Richard Leonard (see 9.57am) Jeremy Corbyn argued that the lowest-paid workers would be £3,000 a year better off by 2020 under Labour than under the Tories.

That was because Labour was committed to making the national minimum wage a “real living wage” of at least £10 an hour by 2020, he said.

The Conservatives have introduced a “national living wage” for over-25s which is currently worth £7.50 an hour. Corbyn said the Tories originally said it would go up to £9 an hour by 2020. But the budget documents last week showed it is now expected to be £8.56 an hour in 2020, Corbyn said. He told his audience”

Now we know the price of Tory failure for the low paid. The lowest paid workers will be £900 per year worse off in 2020 than promised. That’s shocking and unacceptable.

Labour is committed to a real living wage of at least £10 per hour by 2020. That would make the lowest paid in our economy £3,000 per year better off in 2020. A real living wage would end working poverty.

According to BuzzFeed’s Jamie Ross, a Telegraph journalist at the event was booed when he asked a question about the royal engagement.

The Corbyn supporters should have saved their boos for the BBC’s subtitle transcription machine. When Corbyn referred to Harry and his brother, it came out as “Hezbollah”.

No 10 lobby briefing - Summary

Here are the main points from the Number 10 lobby briefing.

  • Downing Street refused to comment on the suggestion from the Labour MP Kate Hoey this morning that Ireland should have to pay for any hard border erected between Northern Ireland and Ireland after Brexit. (See 10.29am.) Asked about Hoey’s comments, the prime minister’s spokesman said he would not discuss “hypotheticals” and that reporters were getting ahead of themselves.
  • The spokesman said that the Brexit talks were making “good progress” on the Irish border issue but that “more work” needed to be done. The spokesman was speaking in response to a question about the Irish foreign minister, Simon Coveney, saying the EU27 are united in wanting “more progress” on this before they will agree to open talks on a post-Brexit trade dea;. (See 11.56am.) The spokesman said he did not want to give a more detailed response because he had not seen Coveney’s comments before the briefing started.

We have the world’s fifth largest defence budget, which is the biggest in Europe.

We are one of few countries to not only meet but exceed the 2% spending target, and we are also committed to increasing the £36bn defence budget by at least half a percent above inflation every year for the rest of the parliament.

We are investing significant amounts in the MoD. At the same time, the national security capability review is ongoing and will report in due course.

  • The spokesman refused to say when the findings of the Cabinet Office investigation into Damian Green, the first secretary of state, would be revealed. “What is important is that it’s a thorough investigation and due process is followed,” the spokesman said.
  • The spokesman said the government would comply with the Commons vote saying it must hand over its 58 Brexit sectoral analysis reports to the Commons Brexit committee by tomorrow. He did not say exactly when the material would be handed over. It would be up to the committee to decide who they were published, he said.
  • The spokesman insisted that Clarence House, not the government, was responsible for the timing of today’s royal engagement announcement. One journalist asked about the theory that the announcement was due on Thursday, and that the government news diary was cleared accordingly, but that there was a last-minute change of plan because the budget ended up getting better press coverage than expected. The spokesman said the royal household decided when the announcement was made. He also said that the idea that May’s diary was cleared on Thursday in anticipation of an engagement announcement was “nonsense” and that May was making visits on Thursday in connection with the budget that were planned long in advance.

EU27 united in demanding 'more progress' on border in Brexit talks, says Irish foreign minister

I’m just back from the Number 10 lobby briefing. The best news line came when a reporter asked about an interview given by Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign minister, on RTE radio this morning. Coveney said that all of the EU27 member states agreed that there had to be “more progress” on the border issue for the EU to agree to open talks on a post-Brexit trade deal after December.

The Irish government has signalled that it will veto any EU moves to move the Brexit talks on in December if it does not get assurances about the border. In his interview Coveney said that Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Donald Tusk, president of the European council, and Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, had all assured him that Ireland would not need to deploy a veto because the EU as a whole backed the Irish position. Coveney said:

They have repeated the message that Ireland’s problems are the EU’s problem, so Ireland is not going to be isolated and forced to use a veto.

We are part of an EU negotiating team that is very clear on this issue - there needs to be more progress on the Irish issues between now and the 14th of December and if that doesn’t happen we won’t be moving on to the phase two discussions, which is where everybody wants to be, including Ireland.

We can’t allow a situation to develop where we move into phase two of discussions on Brexit in the hope that somehow the border is going to be resolved without having any credible understanding as to how that’s going to be done.

Coveney said that the “full picture” regarding the UK’s future trade relationship with the EU would only become clear when the Brexit talks moved on to cover trade. But he said more assurances were needed now.

If you basically move from one customs union into another customs union when you move from Ireland into Northern Ireland then there has to be customs checks, there is no way of avoiding that.

Asked about Coveney’s comments at the Downing Street briefing, the prime minister’s spokesman said he had not seen them. But the spokesman said that Theresa May said on Friday that good progress was being made in the talks, but that more work needed to be done.

I will post a full summary from the briefing soon.

Updated

But one person who hasn’t tweeted her congratulations yet is Emma Dent Coad, the new Labour MP for Kensington. Dent Coad is Harry’s local MP - her constituency takes in Kensington Palace - but she is not a huge fan of the prince, and triggered a row at the Labour conference with a disparaging and inaccurate comment about his flying abilities.

But she has been tweeting about Theresa May, and that has caused a stir too. Last night she posted this on Twitter.

She was commenting on this.

In an interview with Sky News this morning about Grenfell Tower, Dent Coad was asked to defend the tweet (which has been criticised by, among others, my colleague Marina Hyde). Dent Coad replied:

It’s a joke. It’s Roald Dahl. There are things I’ve had thrown at me over the last five months you would not believe. I’ve had four rounds of death threats. It is ugly. Making a joke from a Roald Dahl thing is pretty minor compared to what some people get up to.

I’m off to the Number 10 lobby briefing now. I will post again after 11.30am.

Updated

As you may have noticed already, Prince Harry has announced his engagement to Meghan Markle this morning. MPs seem to find the news more exciting than the new industrial strategy, and they’ve been tweeting their congratulations.

This is from Theresa May.

Others who have offered their best wishes include Boris Johnson, David Cameron, Carwyn Jones, and Arlene Foster.

Labour MP Kate Hoey says Ireland should have to pay for any hard border with Northern Ireland

And, while we’re on the subject of Ireland, the pro-Brexit Labour MP Kate Hoey told the Today programme that, if a border does have to go up between Northern Ireland and Ireland after Brexit, Ireland will have to pay for it. She said:

We’re not the ones who are going to be putting up the physical border. If it ends up with a no deal we won’t be putting up the border - they’ll have to pay for it, because it doesn’t need to happen.

Hoey also said that Switzerland and Norway provided examples of how countries outside the EU could operate relatively soft border arrangements with the EU. She suggested that the Irish government was being unduly negative about the problem.

A lot of the technology, at the Swiss border and in Norway, is done actually away from the border - and of course the prime minister has said that she doesn’t want cameras at the border.

There are ways of doing this. Why don’t the Irish government actually become more positive about this and start looking at solutions with their closest neighbour and closest partner? After all, we are a friend of the Republic of Ireland, the relations have never been as good.

And yet on this issue it seems like they are more concerned to keep the rest of the EU satisfied than actually looking at concrete positive proposals.

Hoey also claimed that Ireland could end up following the UK and leaving the EU. Speaking to an Irish senator on the programme with her, ssaid:

We joined the EU together, you joined when we joined, and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if we leave and when we’re very successful that you don’t start looking as well.

Commenting on Hoey’s comments about Ireland paying for the border, the classicist and broadcaster Mary Beard said Hoey sounded a bit like Donald Trump.

Updated

Ahern suggests UK plan for Irish border can work if UK willing to turn 'blind eye' to smaller traders breaking rules

Bertie Ahern, the former Irish prime minister, has broadly backed the UK government’s plan for the Northern Ireland/Ireland border after Brexit. In a position paper in August (pdf), the government suggested that a hard border could be avoided, even if the UK left the customs union, through a strategy dubbed by some “technology and trust” - operating a trusted trader scheme, and using new technology.

Many EU leaders think the plans are fanciful, but Ahern suggested they could work, provided the UK was willing to turn a blind eye to smaller traders ignoring customs rules.

Ahern, who was Irish prime minister from 1997 to 2008, told the Today programme:

Our economy is relatively small, a huge amount of the trade is multinationals; it should be possible, I think, to do that by technology. But of course, when you come down to agriculture and smaller items, I don’t think technology would work.

One thing we do not want, can’t have, is back to a physical border.

Theresa May, take her at her word, she’s confidently said she doesn’t want a physical border, the EU don’t want a physical border, the Irish Government don’t.

So you’re left down with the one alternative - to make technology work in most cases and to throw a blind eye to those areas that can’t come in within technology.

Richard Leonard, the new Scottish Labour leader, is to greatly overhaul his party’s policies and closely align its strategies with Jeremy Corbyn’s approach at Westminster, in a clear break from the stance taken by his predecessor Kezia Dugdale.

After winning a convincing victory in the Scottish leadership contest, Leonard has announced he plans to set up 12 policy reviews covering areas such as council funding, housing, children’s health, climate change and renewables, as well as a commission on tax reform.

His credentials as Corbyn’s preferred candidate were underlined after Corbyn pledged he “would as closely as possible” with Leonard, who was backed heavily by the unions, at a joint appearance in Glasgow on Monday morning.

In an implicit criticism of Scottish Labour’s previously centrist positioning and its distaste for fully-fledged Corbynism under Dugdale, Corbyn stressed the case for unity between the UK and Scottish parties.

“Now our whole party and movement must campaign together to inspire people in every nation and region of the UK to have the confidence to be a country that genuinely cares for all,” Corbyn said in an advance text.

Leonard offered some overtures to his party’s centrists by name-checking John Smith, the former UK party leader and moderate whose sudden death in 1994 led to Tony Blair’s election as leader, and paying tribute to his centrist rival for the post, Anas Sarwar.

Lauding Corbyn’s “principles, policies and integrity”, Leonard said:

Together, we can seize the day and, as John Smith said when he became Labour leader, ‘persuade millions of the strength of our vision, the relevance of our policies and the urgency of our demand for change’.

Labour has changed, and now we are determined to change Scotland. That is our task today; it is one I am confident that we can achieve together.

Heseltine says best industrial strategy would be to stop Brexit

Greg Clark, the business secretary, is publishing the government’s industrial strategy today. Exposing Heathite instincts that until then no one ever realised she had, Theresa May started talking about the importance of industrial policy when she stood for Conservative leader last summer and the white paper out today as an important part of her vision for the country. My colleague Larry Elliott previews what it will say in his overnight story.

As ever, though, nothing escapes the prism of Brexit, and on ITV’s Good Morning Britain this morning Clark (a remainer) struggled when asked whether he really thought leaving the EU was good for the country. My colleague Peter Walker has posted the highlights on Twitter.

Lord Heseltine, the former Conservative deputy prime minister and a lifelong champion of the need for industrial policy (an original Heathite, not like May), was on BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour last night and he had no qualms about answering this question. The best thing the UK could do to boost growth and productivity would be to stop Brexit, he told the programme. Asked what he would do to tackle failing growth, he said:

There is no simple solution to that but the first and most obvious one is to stop the Brexit initiative. Our country is facing years of stagnation, and what is a principal cause of that? It’s that anyone who has got to take an investment decision today is saying, ‘Well how do I know what to invest in? What’s going to happen about Britain and its biggest market of Europe?’ and so they’re hesitating. Whether they’re British companies or overseas companies investing here, they’re hesitating. And as long as we have this Brexit shadow going over us, that will remain. And what do we get in the Budget? A £3bn bill in order to prepare for this Brexit disaster.

To be fair to the government, it’s not all bad news on the investment front. As the government press release reveals, today’s white paper announcement coincides with two pharmaceutical companies, MSD and QIAGEN, announcing investments in the UK that will support or create up to 1,750 jobs. Owen Bennett has more details here, at HuffPost UK.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.45am: Richard Leonard, the new Scottish Labour leader, speaks at an event in Glasgow with Jeremy Corbyn.

10.30am: Theresa May meets the Turkish prime minister Binali Yildirim in Number 10.

11am: Downing Street lobby briefing.

2.30pm: Gavin Williamson, the new defence secretary, takes questions in the Commons.

As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I plan to post a summary at lunchtime and another in the afternoon.

You can read all today’s Guardian politics stories here.

Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news from Jack Blanchard’s Playbook. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’ top 10 must reads.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.

Updated

 

Leave a Comment

Required fields are marked *

*

CAPTCHA

*